Chair.



' S. IVI. EISNER.

CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. I, 1914| L16554 Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

Il II I: :I 104 .I

II lI II Il WITNESSES:

J y 'y l ATTO R N EYS.

TE @"AT@ PAN Cm SAMUEL M. EISNER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO SELF-RAISING SET .APPLIANCE COMPANY, 0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION.

CHAIR.

incassa.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Deo. 2S, 1915 Application filed November 7, 1914. Serial No. 870,731.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I,`SAMUEL M. EISNER, a citizen of the'United States, and a resident of Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jerse have invented certain new and useful mprovements in Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved chair and is designed yto provide a chair that is adapted for usein theaters and similar places of amusement, the main object being to provide a chair that is comfortable and roomy, but at the same time gives ample space between a chair and the chair immediately in front of it so that when the chairs are arranged in rows, the entrance and exit of patrons is not difficult.

'The invention is designed to provide a chair of this kind with a seat that swings up out of the way when the person occupying the chair arises, the seat being provided with a spring means for tilting 1t upward, the tilting means being referably of a kind that is attachable to t e present type of chair, that is the ordinary chair that has a seat that can be swung up and down by manipulation.

The present invention further provides a chair of this kind in which the seat automatically swings upward when it is not occupied, the chair also having arms on which the arms of the person occupying the seat rest, the arms of the chair being hinged or pivoted so that they can be swung upward so that the front part of the arm swings within the line of the front of the seat frames.

This invention is designed to provide chairs with tilting seats which have arms so disposed that there is one arm between each two seats, the arms being adapted to tilt when the chair seats tilt, eacharm being adapted to be lowered when either one of the chair seats flanking it is lowered, this connection serving to hold the arm between each two seats in its lowered or what might be called its operative position when either one or both of the chair seats are tilted forward or lowered into a seating position.

The invention is further designed to provide a chair of this kind with an elastic connection between the arm and the seat, this elastic connection being particularly adapted for chairs such as are used in theaters in which a single arm is placed between two adJoining chalrs so that the\arms on both sides of a single chair will swing downward into place when the seat is swung downward, but it will also act to hold the arm between two seats down when one 4of two persons occupying adjoining seats rises, but the seat portion of the chair so vacated will swing up out of the way along with the other arm on the vacant chair. In other words, anarm between two adjoinin seats is elastically connected with both o them but is not swung up out of the way unless both of said seat portions are tilted, in other words, are unoccupied.

The invention further consists of certain details of construction which will be more fully described in the specification and finally embodied in the clauses of the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side View of a seat of a chair lof my improved form, and Fig. 2 is a front view of thechair shown in Fig. 1, showing also a part of the next adjacent seat and illustrating a partition or side frame between them that is common to them both. Fig. 3 is a section on line 3 3 in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a section through one form of elastic connection adapted for use between the arm and the seat.

In the preferred form of chair the main support of the chair consists of side frames 10, these being preferably rather narrow so that the frame in itself does not occupy much space from front to rear so as to allow as much space as possible between the back of one frame-and the front of the frame of the chair immediately in rear of it. The side frames have a top part 11 which acts as a support for an arm to be described hereinafter, and it has suitable braces such as the bottom brace 12 and the intermediate brace 13, although the exact disposition and form of these parts are not essential. The side frames are connected and braced by the back frame 14 which forms a back for the chair and is usually provided with a suitl able cushion 15. The side frames are proof the plates, the plates being usually held in place by bolts 18 and clips 19 which are bent over the rear and slightly narrowed ends 22 of the side plates 16. lt wili be f however, that this particular way of fastening the side plates can be changed without departing from scope of the innen. l.

sea,- 21 is arranged so that it tilts, being mounted-so that it swings at the sides intermediate of the front and back, the preerred way of mounting it being by placing the seat .portion on the seat arms 22, the cheel: poruions 23 of the seat arms fitting against the forward ends l? o the side plates 16. The seat is supplied with means for swinging it upward out of the way when the seat'is not occupied, and l nd that it is necessary to supply only one of the pivotaly /'ats of the seat with the means for raislac ing the seat., one ot' the pivots therefore being constructed as an ordinary pivotal connection. As the seats are now made this pivotal connection consists `of a bolt 24 which is provided with a head 25 and a nut 26 is arranged so that it screws up on the bolt 2i and acts to hold the pivotal bolt 2 in position.

'ifo equip this type of chair with a spring means ll prefer to mount the spring 27, which is a helical spring, around a bar 28, the central enlarged portion of the bar having reduced ends 29 and 30 whereby shoulders 31 and 32 are formed. The reduced end 30 passes through an opening in the plate 16 and the shoulder comes up against the inner face of the end 17 of the plate 16 and the rod 28 is xed against rotation by suitable fastening means, the form shown illustratin a nut 33 which is screwed up tight and holds the rod 28 in position, the seat arm 22 swinging freely on the bar 28. Resting against theJ shoulder 31 and fitting around the reduced end 29 is a disk 34 which can be rotated on the reduced end 29 and is held in any rotative position desired by a nut 35, although other means of fastening the disk in dierent positions can be employed. The helical spring has one end 36 secured to the seat arm, this being done by passing this end into a hole in the seat arm, and the other end 37 of the spring is passed through a hole in the disk 34, the means illustrated and ldescribed being a simple means, and it will beY understood that other methods of fastening can be used. It will thus be evident that by positioning the disk 34 the tension of the spring can be increased or diminished, and it also can be used to take up any lack of power in the spring through the spring being weakened by use. The spring is so coiled that it has a tendency to swing the seat to an upright position and is strong enough to make this action positive but not strong enough to cause the seat to slam o1' to snap to its upright position, but it gives the lapsible wili normaiiy rest bV the side frames, l provide t are pivoted intermediate of their le' 39 to the side frame. The arms, when .C fare placed in rows side byV side as in thea ters, are so disposed that a single arm rests between two adjacent seats as shown to t right in Fig. 2. l connect the bacierf of the arm with the back end o the se 22, this connection being an elastic coi tion and weaker than the spring 2'?. form of elastic connection that 1 illustrate consists of an eye or other suitable connection 41 which is attached to the arm 33 the back thereof, the eye being attached to the end 42 o a spring 13 which is a tension spring, that is it has a tendency to contract when it is expanded. the spring 43 is fastened as at a a rod 45, the rod in turn being fastened to the back end of the seat arm 22, this being usually done by means of an eye a6.

lf desired l may inclcse the spring i3 so as to minimize the chance of parte o clothing being caught in the convolutions oi' the spring, and also to keep the spring from gathering too much dirt, the covering being Iillustrated as consisting of a barrel i? which usually is in the shape of a sheet metal cylinder, and the position of the barrels at the rear corners of the seat will not interfere at all with the comfort of the person who occupies the seat. ln the case of an arm as at a which is placed between.- two adjacent seats, two elastic connections are supplied, both of them being attached to the same arm, but extending down to lthe diierent seats at each side of said arm. The advantage of this construction resides in the fact that if one of the seats is occupied, both arms, that is one arm on each side of the seat, are lowered when the seat is lowered, but in the case of two individuals occupying adjoining seats, if one of the individuals leaves his seat and the seat lately occupied is swung up out of position, the arm between this tilted seat vand the next seat which is still occupied remains in position, since the elastic connection on the side of the tilted seat extends and does not have suiiicient tension to pull the arm '38 up, particularly if the person occupyingthe seat is resting an elbow or arm on the arm of the seat in question. ln this form of chair it will be evident that when the chair is not occupied the seats and arms will swing up out of the way so that there is a full width between the frame of the seats in rear and the frames of the seats in front, this being advantageous in the case of hasty exit, as

mi, u, m 1 ,e

lne bottoni ene or Y it gives a comparatively free space to pass out between the rows of seats. Another ad` vantage is that it gives more space between these rows of seats, or the rows of seats can be placed close together, and in the c ase of a theater the slight space left on each row in the aggregate will provide enough space usually to permit two or three additional rows of seats being placed in the house, which of course increases the seating capacity and is therefore desirable, as it is more profitable. t

In order to secure the maximum amount of space between the rows lof seats, frames of a narrow vertically disposed type are preferable, since they give a maximum amount of strength without occupying too much room from front to rear of the chair or seat.

To prevent the upward movement of the arm when one of the seats to which the arm is attached is put down to its seating position, I prefer to limit the upward movement of the rod 45 within the barrel 47, and t'o accomplish this I may use a suitable stop, the type shown being a collar 48 arranged on the rod 45, the stop engaging the bottom end of the barrel 47 when the rod is moved upward.

Having thus described my invention, I

,clairnz 1. The combination of a chair having va seat that can be tilted and having a hinged arm, with an elastic connection between the arm and the seat.

2. The combination of a chair having a seat that can be tilted and having a hinged arm, with an elastic connection between the seat and the arm and connected to them-on the same side of the pivots.

3. The combination of a chair having a` seat pivoted at the sides between the front and back of the seat and an arm hinged intermediate of its length, with an elastic connection segured to the seat and the arm in rear of their pivots.

4. The combination of a pair of chairs havin-g seats that can be tilted and having" pivoted, springs acting to tilt the seats, and

elastic connections between the arm and the seats.

6. The combination of a pair of chairs arranged side by side, independent seats on the cha-irs, the seats being arranged so that they can tilt, springs`for' normally forcing the'seats to ltilted position, a pivoted arm between the chairs, and eXtensible spring connections between the arm and the seats.

7. The combination of a pair of chairs arranged side by side, independent seats on the chairs, the seats being arranged so that they can tilt, pivots on which the seats are supported at their sides between the front and back thereof, an arm pivoted'intermediate of its length between the chairs, and elasticconnections between the arm and the seats.

8. A chair comprising vertically arranged narrow side frames, a seat hinged between the side frames, arms hinged to the side frames, the front ends of the seat and arms adapted to swing within the front line of the side frames when they are tilted, a spring to normally force the seat to its tilted position, and extension springs weaker than the first-mentioned spring, said tension springs being connected to the seat and the arms.

9. A chair having a tilting seat and a swinging arm, a spring normally acting on the seat to tilt it, and an extension spring weaker than the irstnamed spring connecting the seat and the arm.

10. A chair comprising side frames, a seat pivoted intermediate of its ends between the side frames, arms pivoted intermediate of their ends on the side frames, and elastic connections between the rear part of the seat and the rearApart of the arms, each connection consisting of a barrel, a light tension spring in said barrel, the barrel and the tension spring being secured at one'end tothe arm, and a rod secured to the spring and extending from the other end of said barrel and having its end adapted to be secured to the seat.

ll. The combination of a pair of chairs arranged side by side, independent seats on the chairs, the seats being arranged so that they can tilt, an arm between the chairs, the arm beingpivoted intermediate of its length, and independent means between each seat and the arm, each of said means acting to force the arm down when the seat to which it is connected is swung down, either of said connecting means being inoperative to pull the arm upward when the seat is thrown upward while the arm is being held down by the other seat.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I hereto set my hand, this 5th day of Novelliber, 1914.

, SAMUEL M. EISNER. Witnesses:

WM. H.' CAMFIELD, M. A. JOHNSON. 

